Dishes to celebrate the lunar new year

The Lunar New Year falls on January 22 this year, and ushers in the Chinese New Year as well as celebrations in other Asian countries including Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The holiday begins on the new moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. For Chinese celebrants, 2023 heralds the Year of the Rabbit.

While there are numerous regional differences in how people celebrate the new year, common denominators include traditional foods that are deemed lucky because they sound like words for wealth, good health, and other desirable traits. Dumplings are also considered lucky foods because their shape resembles an early form of Chinese currency. 

NPR recently talked to several chefs across the U.S. about how they planned to celebrate the holiday. Included with the vignettes from the chefs on family traditions and foods they hold special are several recipes. The recipes range from Vegetable dumplings by Maggie Zhu to Tteok-mandu guk (rice cake soup with dumplings) by Joanne Molinaro to Sesame balls by Rosie Nguyen.